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and that's how he regarded your
joke. Silvertip has been friendly here because he sells us his
pelts. He's a Shawnee chief. There he goes through the willows!"
    By this time Jim and Mr. Wells, Mrs. Wentz and the girls had joined
the group. They all watched Silvertip get into his canoe and paddle
away.
    "A bad sign," said Wentz, and then, turning to Jeff Lynn, who joined
the party at that moment, he briefly explained the circumstances.
    "Never did like Silver. He's a crafty redskin, an' not to be
trusted," replied Jeff.
    "He has turned round and is looking back," Nell said quickly.
    "So he has," observed the fur-trader.
    The Indian was now several hundred yards down the swift river, and
for an instant had ceased paddling. The sun shone brightly on his
eagle plumes. He remained motionless for a moment, and even at such
a distance the dark, changeless face could be discerned. He lifted
his hand and shook it menacingly.
    "If ye don't hear from that redskin ag'in Jeff Lynn don't know
nothin'," calmly said the old frontiersman.

Chapter IV
*
    As the rafts drifted with the current the voyagers saw the settlers
on the landing-place diminish until they had faded from indistinct
figures to mere black specks against the green background. Then came
the last wave of a white scarf, faintly in the distance, and at
length the dark outline of the fort was all that remained to their
regretful gaze. Quickly that, too, disappeared behind the green
hill, which, with its bold front, forces the river to take a wide
turn.
    The Ohio, winding in its course between high, wooded bluffs, rolled
on and on into the wilderness.
    Beautiful as was the ever-changing scenery, rugged gray-faced cliffs
on one side contrasting with green-clad hills on the other, there
hovered over land and water something more striking than beauty.
Above all hung a still atmosphere of calmness—of loneliness.
    And this penetrating solitude marred somewhat the pleasure which
might have been found in the picturesque scenery, and caused the
voyagers, to whom this country was new, to take less interest in the
gaily-feathered birds and stealthy animals that were to be seen on
the way. By the forms of wild life along the banks of the river,
this strange intruder on their peace was regarded with attention.
The birds and beasts evinced little fear of the floating rafts. The
sandhill crane, stalking along the shore, lifted his long neck as
the unfamiliar thing came floating by, and then stood still and
silent as a statue until the rafts disappeared from view.
Blue-herons feeding along the bars, saw the unusual spectacle, and,
uttering surprised "booms," they spread wide wings and lumbered away
along the shore. The crows circled above the voyagers, cawing in not
unfriendly excitement. Smaller birds alighted on the raised poles,
and several—a robin, a catbird and a little brown wren—ventured
with hesitating boldness to peck at the crumbs the girls threw to
them. Deer waded knee-deep in the shallow water, and, lifting their
heads, instantly became motionless and absorbed. Occasionally a
buffalo appeared on a level stretch of bank, and, tossing his huge
head, seemed inclined to resent the coming of this stranger into his
domain.
    All day the rafts drifted steadily and swiftly down the river,
presenting to the little party ever-varying pictures of densely
wooded hills, of jutting, broken cliffs with scant evergreen growth;
of long reaches of sandy bar that glistened golden in the sunlight,
and over all the flight and call of wildfowl, the flitting of
woodland songsters, and now and then the whistle and bellow of the
horned watchers in the forest.
    The intense blue of the vault above began to pale, and low down in
the west a few fleecy clouds, gorgeously golden for a fleeting
instant, then crimson-crowned for another, shaded and darkened as
the setting sun sank behind the hills. Presently the red rays
disappeared, a pink glow suffused the heavens, and at last, as gray
twilight stole down